Honoré here: Over the course of our two blizzards, my friend Pat and I have been tackling projects that have, ahem, been languishing a wee bit, shall I say. Each day, we've touched base by phone, hourly, to share progress, frustrations, and learning.
A while back, maybe a year+ ago, we took a class on creating Accidental Landscapes (AL). And not long after that, we took another class on machine quilting; in that class, we made quilt sandwiches so we could practice free-motion quilting. Both of us are relatively new quilters and machine quilting, especially free-motion stitching, is intimidating, to say the least.
My AL has been on my design wall, basted and waiting, oh so very patiently, for me to quilt and then finish. I believe Pat's was in a project bag. Today, we decided we'd focus on the AL. And then the fun began.
First, Pat couldn't find her quilting gloves and then discovered that she had at least 5 different darning feet - attachments for her machine that one uses to free-motion quilt. Which one/s should she use? Also, she'd decided that she would use Angelina Fiber on the mountain tops - to simulate snow - but she couldn't find the Angelina. I on the other hand knew exactly where my quilting gloves were and only had one darning foot. So, I was fine. I, however, didn't know where my Angelina fibers were nor the companion book for the AL. Also, I could not locate the practice free-motion quilt sandwiches we'd made in class.
We decided to start the quilting process at 3 PM. I would look for my book, practice quilt sandwiches and Angelina fibers; Pat, was ready to add the Angelina and start the quilting. At 4-ish, we touched base to report on the past hour's activity. Pat had made a mess of her Angelina fibers and was feeling very uncomfortable with the little bit of free-motion quilting she'd done. hadn't found my practice quilt sandwiches - though I did find my book and the Angelina. Needless to say, neither of us had made any progress and we were both frustrated.
We both decided that what we really needed to do was to practice free-motion quilting , everyday. We concluded, independently, that one major reason we wind up with unfinished projects is because we're not secure enough in making/taking that next step. We get stymied and find we have to research something or maybe practice doing it. We have to train our brains, rub a few braincells together, develop new synapses. Repeat the activity. Stregthen the connection. Practice!
So, back up on the design wall went my AL. My next step: make a practice-quilt sandwich and set it by the machine. And starting tomorrow, I shall practice free-motion quilting at least 15 minutes a day! In the meantime, I'll gaze fondly on my unquilted Accidental Landscape...
Cheers~